


the all too literal ghosts of your past

by glowstick_blood



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Dreams, Fluff, Found Family, Friendship, Gen, Ghost King Danny Fenton, Light Angst, Not Phantom Planet Compliant (Danny Phantom), Panic Attacks, Protective Danny Fenton, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 02:40:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29056857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glowstick_blood/pseuds/glowstick_blood
Summary: Danny Fenton, at 22-years-old, expected a lot of things. He had to, being a half-ghost and all. His (half) life could get pretty out of hand.What he didn't expect was to wake up one morning in his 14-year-old body, a week before the portal accident.
Relationships: Danny Fenton & Danielle "Dani" Phantom, Danny Fenton & Everyone, Danny Fenton & Jazz Fenton, Danny Fenton & Star, Danny Fenton & Tucker Foley & Sam Manson, Dash Baxter & Danny Fenton, No Romantic Relationship(s)
Comments: 26
Kudos: 172
Collections: Lovely amazing wonderful DP fics in progress.





	1. the Grief (sent back)

Danny was twenty-two years old when he felt the Grief.

Yesterday had been…normal. As normal as it got for a half-ghost, at least. He’d actually gone to visit Clockwork, seeing as the older ghost had summoned him to discuss his time-control potential. Apparently something about his creation, along with being a child ghost (despite being a whole-ass adult now), caused him to be much more receptive to accruing the powers of the adult ghosts he bonded to.

After the discussion, Danny had left Long Now, still holding on to the fuzzy feeling he always got from being around his mentor, and he flew home.

Even at twenty-two, “home” still meant Fenton Works. Danny had taken a gap year after completing high school, mostly to reassess what he wanted to do, since being an astronaut was probably off the table. One year had turned into two as he got a part-time job at the local supermarket, and Danny had eventually concluded that he should at least ‘try’ for his dream job, but he stuck to the local community college for the time being.

All this to say, he still lived with his parents. Not to say he was mooching; Danny paid rent, even though his parents insisted it wasn’t necessary. He needed _some_ sense of human responsibility.

Jazz had gone off to college and was well on her way to a doctorate. Nothing seemed to slow her down, and Danny was deeply proud of her, even if he’d never admit it to her face. She knew anyway.

But that morning, something felt incredibly wrong when he woke up. A deep, horrible ache as if something extremely important had been ripped away from him. He couldn’t pinpoint what was causing it, not right away, not with his eyes still shut against the gentle light streaming in through his window, but he could just feel it.

It made him feel like sobbing. He felt wounded, his chest tight and his breathing only coming in short gasps, and he curled into a ball to ward off the feeling. (Eventually he would come to call the feeling Grief, even though he knew grief, and that word did not even come close to encompassing the pain-dread-fear-wrong he felt now).

All at once, the pressure released him, and he could breathe again, and he snapped back to himself. His hands clawed at his chest, and he rolled to face the ceiling with tears streaming into his hair, and let out a choked whine.

The constant hum of Fenton Works machinery slowly worked him into a calmer state of mind, and he finally raised balled fists to rub away the sleep from his eyes.

As soon as he opened his eyes, he was hit by the sense of wrong. A different kind of wrong. Less of a “the world is ending and it’s my fault” wrong, and more of a “someone was in my bedroom and they moved something but I can’t tell what yet” wrong.

He moved to sit up and paused to contemplate his sheets. They were star-patterned, a deep blue with constellations woven through. Old sheets that he hadn’t brought out of storage in a while due to having gotten a new bed when he hit a growth spurt at sixteen.

A new bed that was no longer there.

A pervading sense of fear, masked by practiced calm, started to seep into his bones.

Sitting all the way up and flinging the sheets off himself, he swung his legs over the edge of his wrong-old-why? bed. His dresser was in the wrong place. His alarm clock looked like an older model, like the one he’d had in high school that he’d accidentally destroyed with an ectoblast one morning.

It displayed a time of 6:22am. Eight minutes before his alarm usually went off.

Danny had, surprisingly, not worked himself into a panic attack; in the back of his mind, he was quite proud of that, thank you very much.

He searched for his phone — _ancients, it looks so old_ — and checked the date with shaking hands.

His mind went blank. Totally, absolutely, stone-cold silent. In one moment, he became the physical embodiment of the “no thoughts, head empty” meme, and then he felt like crying because _fuck, that meme doesn’t even exist yet._

August. Eight years in the past, in August. It was fucking _before the accident_.

He wanted to play it off as a sick joke. Something maybe Wes set up to mess with him, or maybe even Johnny and Youngblood.

But Danny knew he was too light a sleeper for that. He knew no one could have managed all this without waking him up in the process, and for what? To freak him out? What would be the point? He was actually in fairly good standing with most of the ghosts that frequented Amity Park, and so long as they didn’t break the ground rules Danny had laid, they were permitted to roam as much as they wanted.

He briefly wondered if Nocturne had been in on it, to send him into a deeper sleep, but Danny knew the feel of the Ancient’s dreams, and knew how to maneuver his way out of one easily, much to the old ghost’s chagrin (and a little bit of pride, loathe as he was to admit it). No, Nocturne had not been involved.

With the way his life worked, time travel was very obviously not outside the realm of possibility.

No, Danny decided, this was not a prank. This was real. He just didn’t know why. He needed to know why.

The alarm clock went off, startling Danny out of his shock, and he slammed a hand down on the snooze button before actually taking the time to turn it off.

As soon as he stood up out of bed, it really solidified his time-travel theory. Everything around him was Wrong, and it took him a minute to realize that everything was not, in fact, several inches higher. He was just several inches shorter.

“Clockwork!” Danny hissed into the empty air, fists balled at his sides, “Come on, Clockwork! This isn’t funny anymore!”

No response came. Danny wasn’t entirely sure he had been expecting one. The old ghost could be testing him. Could be proving Danny’s “potential” from future-yesterday. Hell, if the portal wasn’t even running, Clockwork probably couldn’t contact him. But even with how mysterious the time ghost could be, Danny had never felt so underprepared for a challenge as he did right then. It didn’t feel like Clockwork.

It didn’t feel like anything familiar at all.

It was then that he realized nothing felt familiar. It was his room, in his home, and he was in his body, but everything was unfamiliar, and he paused to work out what felt the most wrong.

He should have noticed it sooner. Should have realized it sooner. Maybe that’s what the pain-dread-fear-wrong had been earlier.

Logically, he should have made the connection that nonfunctional portal meant—

His core was gone.

His ghost half was gone.

Maybe he spoke too soon about not working himself into a panic attack.


	2. first day back (the drive to casper high)

Danny went through his morning routine in a daze, fog wrapping around inside his brain and blurring his thoughts. He was almost grateful to the forced numbness.

The moment he saw Jazz, a delirious thought bubbled to the surface through the haze. _I’m older than you now_ , he thought, and giggled. She had looked at him funny, and he quickly stated that he was going on a quick run before school before spinning and racing for the door.

He knew fourteen-year-old Danny hated running. Hated most exercise, really. Fifteen-year-old Danny had taken up an exercise routine to keep up his physical fitness in case he ever had to fight without his powers, which turned out to be more often than he was comfortable with, and twenty-two-year-old Danny had updated the fitness routine to suit his needs.

His shoes pounded the pavement, lulling him into a false sense of security. This was easy. Running was easy. Running was safe. It was an easy rhythm to fall into, even with his lungs quickly starting to burn.

Damn, he was out of shape.

He wasn’t very far from Fenton Works before realizing that there was no way his body could manage his usual, and he started to slow, jogging and then walking the rest of the way back home.

He had just needed to go. To try to outrun his racing thoughts.

He passed back through the front door of Fenton Works (not his home, he refused to call it his home right now), and found himself climbing into a very hot shower.

The heat worked to soothe his aching shoulders, tense from holding himself so rigidly all morning, and he heaved out a sob as he examined his skin.

Aside from the few faint bruises he could safely assume were from Dash or his own clumsiness, his skin was nearly unblemished.

Nothing like the future.

Ancients, the future had not been kind to him. Super fast healing had lent itself to a dazzling collection of scars over the years, though one scar had refused to lose its color.

Danny bit off that train of thought before it could go further. No need for that.

Unfortunately, though, he’d also lost the two small tattoos he’d gotten, and his ears were no longer pierced (Sam had done that their junior year, and he’d enjoyed the accessories).

He toweled off, dressed in comfortable clothes, brushed his teeth, and headed down to the kitchen.

Holy shit, he had to go to _school_.

Somewhere in his mind, he knew he’d have to talk to Jazz at some point. If nothing else, because of his sudden change in behavior.

But on this particular morning, he was not willing to do that. He stuffed his mouth full of egg and grabbed his bag to head out the door, yanking his collar away from his neck.

A gentle hand came to rest on his forearm, not grabbing. Just a touch. He looked down at the hand, brow furrowed, before meeting Jazz’s eyes. She had a question in her eyes, but what she said and what she wanted to say were two very different things.

“Do you want me to drive you to school?” is what she said, and oh, Danny could have laughed out loud at that. Danny had a few more years of experience driving than this Jazz, and wasn’t _that_ a funny thought?

He quickly schooled his expression into something passive, and gave his sister a shrug.

“Sure,” he said, “why not?”

She seemed a little surprised at that, and maybe fourteen-year-old Danny wouldn’t have accepted a ride so readily, maybe fourteen-year-old Danny would have wanted to walk with his friends, but Danny had no doubt that if he tried to walk to school — to fucking Casper High, of all places — he would not make it there. It was hard enough to convince himself not to skip today anyway.

He was tired, he realized in the car. Like, really tired. _Maybe that’s a side effect of this kind of time travel_ , he thought. Reclining the passenger seat, he settled in for a few blissful minutes of shuteye.

He woke up as Jazz turned into the parking lot of Casper High.

As they approached the front of the building, Danny found himself gazing wistfully at the damned place. He gave Jazz a quick “see you later!” before readying himself and entering the school.

* * *

Danny was acting weird. It was obvious the moment Jazz had seen him in the hallway that morning that something was very, very wrong.

All she could think was, _that’s not Danny!_

~~in another universe, on another day, she would have been right~~

He looked like Danny, sounded like Danny, but everything in his mannerisms was off.

He had smiled to her, even if it wasn’t a Danny smile, and then he’d gone out for a run.

Danny never ran. Jazz knew this. Jazz _thought_ she knew this. But Danny had gone out on a run, and he had returned, and he acted as if that were all normal as he slunk upstairs for a shower.

And that was another thing! The way he moved made her skin crawl. Yesterday, her little brother had been his usual clumsy self, nervous and worried and trying to make himself smaller so he wouldn’t get in anyone’s way.

Today, he moved like a predator. No unnecessary movements. Everything was calculated, somehow, to avoid expending excess energy.

Danny had never been good at avoiding the creaky stairs, so his treks upstairs always made noise.

This new Danny, this not-Danny, made nearly no sound when he moved. He had no presence. The stairs barely whispered under his feet.

Jazz felt like prey, like she was being hunted in her own home.

She tried to brush it off. Tried to tell herself that was ridiculous, Danny would never hurt her, but it did nothing to reassure her, because this couldn’t be Danny.

When she reached out to touch his arm, she wanted to ask, _what are you?  
_

Instead, she asked him if he wanted a ride to school.

For a moment, she saw the corner of his mouth twitch, saw his eyes fill with uncharacteristic mirth, and she regretted her question. In the next instant, not-Danny’s face flattened, and he gave a smooth shrug and agreed.

In the car, Jazz stole glances at his slack face out of the corner of her eye. She knew it was dangerous to take her eyes off the road, but it felt just as dangerous not to keep an eye on _him_.

He didn’t do anything but sleep on the ride, and Jazz felt as though she could breathe a little easier once he was out of her car. They walked to the front of the school together, and even though she knew he hadn’t wanted to go to school much anymore, not-Danny looked almost like he’d missed the place.

Danny then wandered off into the building, and Jazz was left alone on the front steps.

In spite of their different class schedules, Jazz went out of her way to keep an eye on not-Danny. She had never been so distracted in school before, not by dances or rallies or assemblies or clubs. There was just something _wrong_ , and she was going to find out what. Or at the very least, she was going to keep not-Danny from hurting anyone.

She found her face heating as she was called out for not paying attention in front of her Literature class for the second time, and she worked to push her worry aside so she could pay attention.

Not-Danny could wait. She hoped.


	3. the vibes say (the boy be calm)

Tucker knew something was off with his best friend the moment he saw Danny walking down the hallway. Something about the way he was holding himself was just…weird.

Tucker Foley paused in reviewing his notes for Mr. Falluca’s class as he watched Danny. Danny, for his part, was looking around like he’d never seen the haunted halls of Casper High before, and he made a quick turn towards the office, leaving Tucker sitting with his back against his locker, staring after his friend.

When Danny didn’t reappear after a few seconds, Tucker turned his attention back toward his notes.

He was unsure of how much time had passed before he felt something worrying at the back of his mind, and he gave in to the urge to look around, only to find Danny standing right next to him, bending down to stare at his notebook with a thoughtful look on his face.

Tucker _shrieked_ , and Danny looked almost as surprised as he felt.

“Holy shit, dude!” gasped Tucker, working to catch his breath, “Don’t sneak up on me like that!”

Danny’s eyes crinkled, expression full of glee as he took in Tucker’s startled form.

“Man, I got you so good,” he said delightedly, straightening up, “I wasn’t even trying!”

In that moment, Tucker couldn’t even try to be mad. Danny’s laughter was infectious, and Tucker wondered what could have happened to put him in such a good mood on a Monday morning.

* * *

The fog around Danny’s mind had lifted as soon as he’d caught sight of Casper High. In spite of absolutely everything that had ever gone down in the old school, Danny felt elated to be back. Part of him wondered if he would have felt that way if he had visited as a proper twenty-two year old. Probably not, he decided.

He had a chance to change things. Work through things with Dash early this time. Help Tuck and Sam work out their petty squabbles, try not to ruin Val’s life. He could free Wulf sooner. Deal with Vlad early, maybe. Hell, he might even be able to help _Wes_ , though he didn’t really know where to start with that one.

He sobered at that, remembering the main reason for Wes’s treatment was Danny himself. That was the one thing that had to stay the same. He still had to go into the portal. He still had to die.

An inkling of panic rooted in his brain. Would it still work? Would it be the same as before? Or would he really die this time, all the way? If it did work, would his ghost form look different due to his self-perception?

_All questions for later_ , He thought, pushing them aside, _For this weekend_ \- and Ancients, isn’t that a thought? This weekend, he was going to die. Again.

He found himself giggling at the morbid thought.

And then he wondered how many times he could die in his existence. That depended on whether every shift from human to ghost counted as a death. He decided that for this query, that didn’t count. So that put him at four total deaths, unless the portal only counted as a half-death (Danny counted it as a full death). Two by portal, one when his human half dies (if it dies, if he can die), and one when his ghost half eventually fades.

And then he remembered Ellie. Ellie, his clone, his little sister, the mischievous girl who didn’t even exist yet. He had to make sure she would exist. She had to exist. Any timeline without Ellie was not a timeline he wanted to be stuck in.

Wandering the halls of Casper High was weird. Same old lockers, same old posters. Same old kids. They were all practically babies. He remembered feeling so grown up at fourteen, but wow. Babies.

Kind of hard to believe Dash had seemed scary to him, back then. Danny moved to stay out of his line of sight still, but Dash just looked…well, not tired, exactly, but Danny knew what his home life was like, and it was hard to ignore the sympathy that coursed through him at the sight of the other boy.

Some part of him registered that he needed to get a copy of his schedule from the office, because there was no way he would remember an eight-year-old schedule, and he hoped that wouldn’t be too weird at this time of year.

Danny made his way to the office, offering the secretary a bright smile as he asked for a new copy of his schedule. Despite the fact that his hero persona was a ghost, and ghosts weren’t usually meant to be bright or reassuring, he had done his best to make his ghost half a soothing presence. Years of bright smiles and quiet comforts to civilians had lent itself well to either form of Danny being an easy person to be around when he wanted, which he hoped translated well to the past.

Thanking the secretary, Danny made his way back through the halls toward his locker, where he saw Tucker — _he’s so small_ — staring at a notebook, brow furrowed in concentration.

Keeping his footsteps light, he sidled toward Tucker’s left, bending at the waist to read his notes. Trig, huh? That’s a bitch.

Tucker stirred, swinging his head first to the right, and then to the left, only to pause, his eyes wide in an expression of shock, and then he screeched, clutching at his chest, and Danny was able to revel in the company of his oldest friend again.

An arm suddenly slung over his shoulder, and Danny had to resist every urge in his body telling him to move, to jump, to flinch, to run away from the sudden contact. He _knew_ who was touching him. The touch was familiar, and after taking a moment to relax, he leaned his head against her shoulder.

“Hey, Sam.” said Danny, letting the fondness slip into his voice. She always smelled like lavender, and he’d missed it.

They didn’t get to hang out as much as they used to, in the future. There was always just so much happening. Sam had been traveling the world since graduation, and had actually been in Ireland for the past month, and Tucker had been away working for companies that relied on his tech prowess, and Danny _missed_ them.

“Whoa there, cuddle-bug,” said Sam, and Danny took a little pleasure in watching her face turn red. “What’s up with you this morning?”

“Just happy to see you guys,” murmured Danny, “‘Sides, you started it.”

“He scared the shit out of me, though,” huffed Tucker, “Where did you learn to move so quietly?”

Danny let mischief play on his face.

“That’s a secret, Tuck. A magician never reveals their secrets.” He could hardly wait to have his ghost powers back. If he was stealthy without his powers, he would be practically - or literally - invisible with them.

Sam pulled away from the contact, and Danny fought the urge to whine, though he did let himself pout at her. She just stuck out her tongue.

“Did you two finish the chemistry homework this weekend, or were you too busy with Doomed?” she asked, and Danny snorted.

“Come on, Sam. You play more than both of us,” he said, “You’re just better at balancing school and gaming.”

“Uh…” Sam looked at him as if he had grown a second head (he’d be able to soon!). “How…how did you know that? I’ve never told you I played.”

_Oops,_ Danny winced.

“You did well hiding it, young padawan,” he said instead, “but I have many secrets, and many ways of figuring things out.”

"Still, kinda weird that you knew that!" Tucker raised his voice as the bell rang, and Danny shrugged, and the trio split to head to their respective homerooms.

Some of Danny’s excitement was waning by lunch. Apparently Dash was either in most of his classes or he had to make his way past the bully in order to get to his next class. Danny hadn’t remembered having to see Dash _that_ much his freshman year, but maybe he’d just blocked it out.

Regardless, he _was_ Dash’s prime target, topping the nerd charts above even Mikey. That was bound to come back to bite him sometime.

That sometime was lunch. Danny had made the mistake of not finding Sam and Tucker before heading to the cafeteria, and Dash had cornered him.

_A whole-ass adult and I still haven’t figured out a way to avoid this guy._

“Fenton. I have chemistry next hour and I forgot to do my homework. Mikey handed his in early so I need yours,” Dash stated. Danny could have laughed, honestly. It genuinely felt like something right out of a bad movie.

“Wow, dude, straight to the point,” said Danny, reflexively. “You really don’t beat around the bush, do you?”

A sour look overtook Dash’s face, and Danny just raised an eyebrow expectantly.

“Look, dipshit. I just need it, so hand it over,” said Dash. The sentence ended there, even though Danny waited for a threat.

This…this was different than Danny remembered. Danny remembered a power trip, not the poorly hidden desperation. Then again, his judgment had been clouded at the time.

Danny nodded to himself, mind made up.

“How fast can you write?” asked Danny.

“What?”

"How fast can you write?” Danny repeated, “I’ll lend you the homework for the lunch hour if you think you can copy it in time. It’s not that much to write. I just want it back before sixth hour. They’ll know if you turn in someone else’s paper with your name on it and they’ll mark it down, so just copy mine.”

Dash looked lost for words, and Danny risked taking his eyes off the taller boy to reach into his backpack for the chemistry papers. With a dumbfounded look on his face, Dash took the papers more carefully than Danny thought possible, and Danny allowed what he hoped was a kind smile to cross his features.

“If you ever need to copy homework, Dash, just come talk to me,” said Danny.

With that, Danny slung his backpack over his shoulder, slipped beneath a speechless Dash’s arm, and made a beeline for the cafeteria.

Lunch was meatloaf with green beans and apple slices, which wasn’t a terrible meal in the grand scheme of Casper High. It could definitely be worse. It had been worse.

Once seated with Sam and Tucker, Danny happily dug in. Sam was frustrated with the lack of vegan options, and Tucker simply shrugged. After a moment, Danny watched Dash wander in and find a seat at the table with Paulina, Star, Kwan, and Valerie.

_He should move a little faster if he wants to get that done._ Danny thought, frowning.

“Earth to Danny!” he heard Sam calling, and he jerked back to reality and offered a smile.

“What’s up, Sam?”

“What were you doing? Making goo-goo eyes at Paulina again?” she asked with a scoff.

Danny made a face. Sam’s distaste of Pauling had never really sat right with him, even after he got over his crush on Pauli and learned why Sam seemed to hate her. Danny understood that they’d had a falling out, but some days it seemed like Sam just ragged on her just to rag.

“Nope,” said Danny simply, “Just wondering if Dash is gonna finish his chemistry homework before next period.”

Sam and Tucker exchanged confused glances, but Danny ignored them in favor of chowing down on the apple slices. Gala, yum.

Fifth period was Literature with Mr. Lancer. Despite the teacher’s gruffness, he was very good at what he did.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your perspective), Danny had learned all of this before. It was kind of exhausting to sit through all the same classes again, and there was sadly no point in raising his hand and saying “Hey, I just time traveled from eight years in the future and I’ve learned all this before, may I please be excused?” because that would probably get him in trouble, so he just sat, jotting down random notes and random thoughts.

The past was weird. It was even weirder to think that this probably wasn’t Clockwork’s doing, based on _how_ the travel was. If he’d been sent back by Clockwork, he’d still be in his older body. Danny wasn’t sure Clockwork could send just a person’s consciousness back in time. It wasn’t outside the realm of possibility, but it just didn’t _feel_ like Clockwork’s hand. That had Danny convinced it wasn’t. He liked to think he knew the other ghost fairly well.

Why send him back to before they’d ever met? Why send him back to before he had his ghost half? Why send him back to before the portal had even opened?

Danny errantly doodled the opened portal in his notebook, sketching out Skulker’s metal suit and Ember’s fiery hair.

He missed Ember. When she wasn’t trying to mind control the populace, she was super cool. She had major big sister energy, and he missed her a lot. Once he’d established friendly relations with most of the Zone, Ember had been an incredibly valuable ally and a solid friend.

“Mr. Fenton, are you paying attention?” came the voice of Mr. Lancer, and Danny tuned back in to see the teacher standing over his desk and staring down his nose at him.

“What’s up, Mr. Lancer?” asked Danny. “Sorry, I zoned a little.”

“I can see that,” huffed Lancer, “Please at least try to pay attention in my class, instead of doodling. I know Greek Literature can be a little dull—“

“No, not at all,” Danny interrupted, “I just have a lot on my mind today. My parents have this new project and they keep wanting me to be involved, so it’s been a little tough to stop thinking about it.” He gave a smile, turning his full attention to the teacher.

“I—Well…alright,” Lancer stammered, caught just a little off guard. “Just…pay attention, please.”

Danny nodded an affirmative and started on his notes with new exuberance as Mr. Lancer walked back to the front of the class.

Sam sent him a concerned look, to which Danny responded with a smaller smile and a mouthed _later_.

Once the bell rang, signaling the end of class, Danny made his way to find Dash.

Dash pulled him aside roughly, far from the prying eyes off his little group, before letting go and stepping back.

“Here’s your chem stuff.” said Dash, shoving the papers toward Danny’s hands.

“Did you get everything copied down?” asked Danny, taking the papers. Dash nodded, and Danny grinned.

“I wanna say sorry,” Danny said, and paused. _Sorry for not noticing sooner,_ he thought, but continued, “for any answers that might be wrong. From here on out, the quality should improve. I’ll say it again, if you need the homework, just come find me. I’ll help.”

Dash nodded slowly, then shook his head as if surprised at his own actions.

“Shut up, nerd.” he snarled, “I don’t need your fuckin’ help.”

“I know.” Danny said simply, slipping away from the conversation.

* * *

In the first week of school, Star Thunder had found no reason to pay any attention to Danny Fenton. He was scrawny, nerdy, closed off, and boring. He was always nervous, always trying to make himself smaller to stay off the radar of teachers and bullies alike. That didn’t stop Dash, of course. In fact, the only reason she even knew his name was because Dash said it like an insult. Danny Fenton was just not interesting.

Star _knew_ that. Well, she thought she knew that.

Monday afternoon saw her in chemistry class with Danny Fenton as her seat partner, courtesy of the seating chart made by Ms. Bagwell. Star had wished she could sit next to anyone else. She probably would have even taken Mikey or Lester, because at least _they_ might have been useful. They were good at chemistry.

Something was different about Danny today, though. He was holding himself differently. In spite of everything, she felt herself relaxing around him. She felt safer. And that didn’t make _any_ sense, because Danny Fenton couldn’t even protect himself, let alone someone else.

Star scowled at him as he diligently copied notes from the board. She wasn’t really angry at him, just weirded out at how quickly he’d changed over the weekend. There had been rumors that his parents were nuts, always experimenting with weird stuff. Maybe Danny got hit with something that changed his personality.

“Star?” That shook her out of her reprieve. “You good?”

Danny was waving a hand in front of her eyes as she blinked back into the present.

“Huh?” she said intelligently.

“You kind of zoned out for a minute,” said Danny lowly, his ocean-deep eyes searching hers, and oh, was he worried?

Star shook her head to clear it. _Like an Etch-a-sketch,_ her brain supplied, and she had to fight to stifle a giggle.

“I’m fine,” she said curtly, smoothing her features. Danny lit up with a grin, chin in hand.

“Good,” he said, “I’m glad.”

A few moments later, he tapped his eraser on her notebook, by question four.

“Hey, Star?” Danny said, and she faced him to see a small, dorky smile plastered on his face. “You, uh, you forgot to factor in the temperature. On number four? You set up the equation right but you skipped a step. O-other than that, it’s right though! If you want help with anything, though, I can help.”

“Oh, um.” Star mumbled, musing over her work. “No, I got it. Thanks though.”

Danny lit up again, a “No problem!” tumbling from his lips, and Star had to turn away from his blinding joy, unwittingly drawing a connection between him and a puppy.

She kept stealing glances at him throughout the class. He seemed weirdly content. None of the nervous energy left from the previous week. In fact, he was practically radiating calm, and Star felt the anxiety bleed out of her.

_What a weird guy,_ she decided, and left it at that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter was late. My laptop was in for repairs.
> 
> Also, I get overwhelmed very easily, so I may not respond to comments on this fic like I do on my oneshots, but know that I read every single comment and appreciate them all.
> 
> Thank you for reading!


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